After last week’s stunning episode featuring Akecheta, we’re back to your regularly scheduled Westworld with our regular cast of characters and whatever their objectives are, but regular for how much longer? “Vanishing Point” is the penultimate episode of Season 2 of Westworld.

We find out exactly what happened to Juliet
So we knew earlier from William that Juliet had overdosed on pills, but we didn’t know exactly why. Older Juliet is played by the talented Sela Ward (House, CSI NY). After a boozy night celebrating William’s accomplishments and while Emily books her in for forced rehab, Juliet accesses a data card (given to William by Ford) containing William’s misadventures in the park, basically all his darkest secrets captured on video. That and his admission he loves his life in Westworld more than his own and her history of alcohol abuse were enough to drive her to suicide.

“I don’t belong to you or this world. I belong to another.”

 

You wanted some actual deaths, well here you go!
I did complain previously about Westworld’s treatment of death on the show, especially when it came to the Hosts. We knew Teddy was a goner from episode one, but it is rather abrupt how it comes about this episode. We knew it was never a good idea for Dolores to change his personality and it was all going to end badly, we just didn’t know when. On Dolores’ command, he and her followers slaughter a group from Ghost Nation with guns when they only have arrows and axes. This is excruciating to watch, especially after getting to know Ghost Nation last episode. He lets one warrior go when Dolores isn’t watching, much like earlier in the season before he was “made into a monster”. In an operatic scene where we knew where it was all headed, Teddy shoots himself in the head, giving us that much-needed closure.

The Man In Black shows his true colours
And then there’s Emily. William is still convinced she’s a Host and kills her after slaughtering a bunch of Delos employees, only to find the data card and realise she wasn’t a Host. I mean c’mon William, how paranoid do you have to be? Even without much to do Emily was quickly becoming one of my favourite new characters and now she’s gone.

Now William’s left Logan Delos naked and stranded in a desert almost killing him, tortured James Delos (at least his reincarnation), and added fuel to the fire for Juliet Delos’ suicide. Now there’s Emily, his daughter, who he shoots down when it looks like she’s drawing a weapon.

Am I a host?
Apparently, we’ve known this for a while that you can tell you’re a host if you just open up your arm and find the access port? It certainly evokes Ex Machina. Bernard does this in this episode and the episode concludes with William feeling his own arm and questioning his humanity.

Also, those hats scan your freakin’ brain?
Yup, that choice between a black and white hat before catching the train to Westworld also nabs you your own personal brain scanner. Personally, I think they should have left this out of the show. It’s laughable and doesn’t add anything to the narrative not to mention the countless plot holes it creates. Talk about putting a hat on a hat.

So is Ford gone for real now?
Knowing Ford, he could still exist on the mesh network, forever tormenting Bernard and William. But it certainly looks like Bernard has removed him from his head.

What’s next for the finale?
After being bedridden for a few episodes I bet Maeve is eager to get out of the Mesa. Though she hasn’t exactly been sleeping. With her core permissions reinstated it looks like Maeve will be up and outta bed for the finale. She might even have to face a now mind-control-enabled Clementine (who isn’t dead by the way). And we still have to get to that bloomin’ flood. At 90 minutes long it’s sure gonna be an event.